"What is that?" I demanded looking at Kayla's choice for an outfit.

While not overweight, she was a little chubby especially noticeable with her small height. Her stomach was exposed up to her belly button due to the small gray shirt and her ass was showing with some cut-off shorts.

She perched her hands on her hips and smiled, "Jealous? Mom said she's gonna take Jonny and me to the mall for some new clothes."

New clothes was right, she was practically oozing out of them. Then her message got across, Dad's paycheck was coming tomorrow so, Mom would probably ask me for some money. That's one of the things I was known for in the house, it wasn't like I got a huge amount from work but I was one for saving stuff, money especially.

That's when I noticed her looking over at Damian who had joined me in staring at Kayla. I was officially gonna kill her...

"Kayla-no, shut up! I want you to go back to the room and wear something that actually covers your ass." There was no way I would willingly let her out of the house like that and Mom wouldn't either.

Kayla glared at me, "For your information, this still fits."

"As what, a bra?"

"Pfft, it'd be huge on your flat chest! I bet Damian likes a girl with actual boobs!" Her face lit up with a smile as she looked back at him. "Isn't that right, Dami?"

"Wait, what?" Damian looked confused, surprised to be put in the middle of our sibling feud. "Uh..."

He looped his arm around my waist, I leaned further into him. "Damian, I swear, if you answer-"

"Calm down, Jen-Jen." My cheeks burned as I heard Kayla's burst of surprised laughter.

"I told you not to calm me that! And you still have to change!"

The two plastic bags were heavy in one hand and I tried to keep the tire iron in the other, attempting to find a balance. The dumb bastard couldn't even help me carry all this, busy as he was walking and did not think about offering up some labor. Seriously? I put myself out there and he doesn't even respond or anything, the jerk that he is.

A part of me doesn't want to say anything at all just ignore him, the same he's doing to me. Another side makes me want to confront him or something, I would hate beating around the bush with a passion back home. There used to be no way in hell that I'd waste my time tiptoeing around something that's been on my mind. Damien liked that part of me even when I talked to him about Kayla's flirting, called me aggressive and said if I let him he'd like to sleep with me. After I punched him in the shoulder, he apologized but said that when I wanted to, he'd be right there.

Rather than focusing on the attention of his horny mind, I made sure I had my shit together and purposely never went very far with him. We knew we wouldn't last forever so we enjoyed ourselves while we could. He occasionally copped a feel, we'd made out a few times, the sum of our physical relationships besides the regular handholding and hugs.

Mickey was even easier, if a lot more eager to touch me if we ever played a friendly game of basketball. He didn't care so much about going all the way like Damien instead he enjoyed playing tease. The way I saw it was that he figured the more he touched me, the more I would want to fuck him...that theory was a load of bullshit.

Now, Lizard and Goggle...what about them? I questioned myself on this, what about them indeed! Well Goggle was Goggle and Lizard was, well...Lizard. I didn't know what to compare them to, animals they sure weren't and behaving normally I wasn't certain about. If Erin were here, she would've made some sexual comment about them being wild... Mattie, well, fuck this train of thought!

So, lost in my musings as I was, I almost jumped when Lizard's walkie talkie came to life and Goggle's voice sounded out asking Lizard where he was.

Lizard unclipped it from his belt and responded with a frustrating calmness, "Goggle, we jus' left Jeb, what's happenin'?"

Goggle's voice replying sent me into a mental frenzy. "Tell Jen ta' run."

"What?" I blurted it out, looking around to see what danger was nearby. That's when I saw the pair, walking toward us from the side. I might've confused them for Pluto and Jupiter from a distance but they were shorter. Stout, whereas Jupiter and Pluto were lean. Besides, why would I run from them of all people?

I grabbed the talkie and held it clumsily in my occupied hands. "Uh, Goggle, I don't think I can run much."

And it was true, the tightly wound bandage could get loose and restrict my breathing. If that happened, I wouldn't get far. Now Lizard saw the pair coming closer and there was a greater sense of urgency when his facial expression made it clear that those guys weren't gonna be buddy-buddy with us.

"Run."

"What about you?"

His piercing eyes looked straight at me, "When I tell ya ta' run, bitch, you run."

Whether it was just his tone of voice or my own insecurity, I dropped those bags and started running. There was no way in Hell I was going to let go of this tire iron, though. I was running, at the same time, trying to not run out of breath. I pushed myself harder at the sound of a gunshot and felt it whizz off to my right. No more followed after that first shot, the loud blast still ringing in my ears. Well, this was a bit of déjà vu, I pushed myself further, overpowering the stitch in my side. The bandages seemed more like a hindrance than anything, I felt some semblance of blood trickling down my skin until it was absorbed by the gauze, signaling that some scabs opened up.

I could do nothing but yell internally at myself to run, run like the fucking coward I was. First when I got kidnapped now here?! Useless fuck I am!

Sweat is dripping down my face and my lungs burn when I start slowing down to a jog, I breathed through my nose and made an effort not to open my mouth. 'That's stupid', I told Mattie when he told me that was his secret to success on the track team. Now, I find myself doing the same thing.

I'm close to the village, a burst of speed and I'm in now. I slip and land on my knees with palms scratching up in a pathetic effort to save me from the fall.

I'm panting, breathing freely and each gulp of air I take burns my lungs. Licking dry lips, I see Ruby running towards me. I must be a sight, about to faint from exhaustion with blood beginning to dry up and scab. I clutch that tire iron for all I'm worth as Ruby's shadow looms over me. Sleep and water sounds like heaven right now, pure bliss...